


Maybe A Change of Heart

by satsunyan



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: AU, All-Girl's School AU, And a Bauman, F/F, Human!Carmilla, Not!Vampire Carmilla, The Dean - Freeform, Two Baumans, Well - Freeform, guess, she's kind here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-07-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 02:39:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4246326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satsunyan/pseuds/satsunyan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, people aren’t who you thought they were. Sometimes, they’re better people than you expected. Sometimes, you’re just super gay for the hottie. And sometimes, it’s all of the above.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe A Change of Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Asteon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asteon/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ONE OF THE GAYEST HOMIES IN EVERY UNIVERSE. As you would say, YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW AWESOME YOU ARE. So I hope you’re having a blast at Vegas, and happy becoming old! – Divine Vengeance
> 
> Hello there, homie. WELL, I LIED ABOUT NOT HAVING ANYTHING. (We lied basically). Happy 21st Birthday! DAMN UR OLD. Have a nice time in Vegas and don’t forget to stay protected from things! Happy Birthday! – Satsu-onee-homie

As they stood together under the maple tree, the wind picked up, scattering a few leaves here and there. A faint scent of flowers from the hidden garden wafted their way, almost as if Mother Nature was trying to set the mood.

She took a deep breath as she looked at her shoes, trying to gather her courage to look the taller female in the eyes. When she finally did, their eyes met.

She knew. This was the moment where everything would change. This is the moment where nothing would be the same anymore.

“Go out with me.”

“… What!?”

* * *

“Oh my god, we’re gonna be late, we’re gonna be late, we’re gonna be late!”

“Dude, chill. We’re fin–“

“WE’RE GONNA BE LATE. PERRY’S GONNA KILL US!”

Teenaged Laura Hollis scrambled down the hallway, ranting as she ran with her friend LaFontaine hot on her heels. The two ignored stares and raised eyebrows and sighs as they sprinted as though a monster was right behind them.

LaFontaine somehow managed to shrug while keeping up with her anxious classmate. “Well, it’s not our fault the printer jammed– Are you even listening?”

The answer was “evidently not” as Laura’s mouth continued spewing out words while the pair turned a corner and dashed towards a room, dodging a body or two.

“I mean we _finally_ managed to find the dean’s daughter and we _finally_ managed to get her to agree to an interview and we _finally_ managed to find a date and we _finally_ managed to make sure she’d actually show up and _we’re_ the ones who are late!? Perry’s gonna–“

Without warning, a rather short person slammed straight into a rather solid something.

“Wow, I’ve never seen someone miss a doorway like that,” a voice drawled.

Laura let out a groan as she sat on the floor after falling down from the recoil of the collision. Her face scrunched in pain as she clutched her nose. “Oh my god…” she mumbled in a muffled voice.

“That was… actually pretty amazing,” LaFontaine commented while trying to suppress laughter.

“I’d pay to see that again,” the third person said.

Upon hearing this particular comment, Laura’s eyes narrowed. The pain was ebbing and was about to give way to embarrassment, but annoyance began bubbling up.

“Well _sorry_ , I was in a rush to get here before the person I’m looking for decides to leave.”

“In that case, congratulations: you failed.”

Laura took a deep breath, ignoring the snarky woman’s words. Letting it out slowly, she looked up at the unwanted commentator, narrowing her eyes. “Whatever, Ms. Karnstein.”

Carmilla Karnstein, who had been leaning against the doorway that Laura spectacularly missed, narrowed her eyes. Nonetheless, a perfect (-ly annoying, Laura’d like to add) smirk was on her lips as she stared down at the poor girl still sitting on the floor. Laura braced for yet another unwanted remark as those lips parted, but before anything was said, two pairs of feet running down the hall could be heard.

“Finally!” Lola Perry exclaimed as she spotted the three figures around the room’s entrance. Her somewhat wild hair bounced in the air as she stormed up to the trio with someone else right behind her. Her eyes were wide with something akin to rage, and Laura felt her indignation at someone begin to fade and turn into something closer to fear. “You two!”

“Where’d you guys go?” Danny Lawrence questioned as she came to a stop next to Perry. “We went to the computer lab to check on you guys, but we didn’t even run into you on the way back.”

“We… took a shortcut,” LaFontaine said with a reassuring smile, though the surreptitious step back they took sounded a warning bell in Laura’s head.

“Shortcut…?” Perry asked, her eyes narrowing.

Laura quickly scrambled to her feet. “You know, through the middle of the courtyard and then over a wall or two, no big deal!” she hastily supplied.

“You climbed over the garden walls?” Danny raised her eyebrow.

“Well, more like jumped,” LaFontaine corrected. “And then through a window…”

“We learned from last time!” Laura quickly stated. “We made sure it was an open one.”

Danny tilted her head in confusion. “Wait, which window is a shortcut to here?”

“You know, through Mrs. Bauman’s classroom– Whoa, Per, why are you looking at me like that?” LaFontaine interrupted the report of their somewhat convoluted shortcut route and began backing away at a faster rate.

“You two tore through the courtyard, defiled the garden walls, and invaded Mrs. Bauman’s classroom,” Perry stated rather than asked with her hands on her hips.

“It’s the taller Mrs. Bauman, and she wasn’t even there,” Laura informed her as she quickly began her own retreat.

Danny shook her head. “Just ‘cause a teacher’s busy with another teacher doesn’t mean you can just break in a like a common thief.”

“It was open,” LaFontaine said as they glanced left and right for the closest escape route.

“I mean we had to unlock the door, but yeah…” Laura’s voice trailed away as she made eye contact with LaFontaine.

With a mutual nod, the two turned and sprinted straight down the hallway, a rather enraged student hot on their tails. The tallest of the group sighed and jogged after the group of three and shouts could be heard throughout the school even half an hour later.

* * *

 

The four huddled around the cafeteria. Laura was slumped on the table, both of her hands stretched on the table.

“Well, that sucked,” LaFontaine spoke with a sigh. “Do you guys have any idea where she went?” they asked. Perry and Danny only shrugged then all three of them sighed.

“Who is this ‘she’ anyway?” Laura grumbled, speaking directly into the table. “The only person there was that broody lady, whoever she was.”

“She’s what we went there for, duh,” they told her as a matter-of-fact. Laura’s head immediately shot up, staring at her. Her eyes were in big circles.

“What!?” The three of them only looked at her in confusion. “Am I the only one who didn’t know?”

“Wait, Laura… You seriously didn’t know?” Danny asked, looking at Perry and LaF for confirmation. They both just shrugged at her. “Carmilla Karnstein is the dean’s daughter. They just use different last names.”

“Seriously!?” Laura just looked at them, her mouth hanging open. “Oh god…” she grumbled before headdesking again.

“Anyway, the dean has warned us about her having this knack of being ‘busy’ therefore disappearing to here and there.” Perry took out her folder and laid it on the table. “So she gave us her class schedule!”

“Nice foresight, Dean.” LaF spoke looking to a specific direction as if breaking the fourth wall. “Anyway, where is she at right now?”

Danny pointed at the schedule before sighing in disbelief. “There’s nothing for today in particular. I guess we’ll have to try tomorrow.”

* * *

 

“Just what do you mean by ‘Because you didn’t know who she was, you’re tasked with capturing her now, Lil’ Laura’!?” the tiny ball of rage half-shouted at nobody in particular, while at the same time pulling off a perfect LaFontaine imitation. She looked at the schedule in her hand and narrowed her eyes. “What even is this schedule? There are like endless gaps of 2 hours on it. Is this even a student schedule?”

She stomped away towards the field. Apparently it was “Softball Day” as the schedule mentioned.

“A larger part of me is sooo glad that I turned her down,” Laura sighed, seeing the big field of green come up into her sight. “But a small part of me still felt bad anyway.”

She didn’t have to look for her as she approached the field. She wore a softball uniform like everyone else, but her features and stature stood out above everyone else. _“Not that she was any taller anyway…”_

Her black hair was tied up into a ponytail and she moved like the wind. Laura thought she was going to get bored. She didn’t like watching sports all that much, and waiting definitely wasn’t her forte, but her feet were cemented to the ground, her eyes glued on only one person.

Carmilla ran to third base after landing a spectacular hit. However, the next batter got tagged out, but she reached home base and the team scored a point. With an unnoticeable (but Laura saw it anyway) small smile, she walked over to her teammate who got tagged out and patted her head in comfort.

Laura’s heart sank at the supportive gesture. Okay, maybe she didn’t expect that. Slowly she climbed up to the top of the bleachers right behind the team’s tent— _“Just so she won’t see me!”_ —and before she noticed it, she had watched the game from start to finish, completely forgetting that she was there to talk to her about the interview.

She headdesked in front of her laptop after realizing that she had totally forgotten to talk to her about the interview. She decided to just try again tomorrow.

The blonde decided to just stalk-follow-walk-in-the-same-direction upon laying her eyes on the dean’s daughter. She decided that she would approach her with correct timing that would not be a bother to anyone. She saw her walking inside the school early morning.

“So she goes to school early.” Laura followed her, keeping a distance of almost ten meters. She wondered where she was going after she took a turn to an unknown part of the school. “Does she know I’m following her? I made sure I’m being discreet…”

She disappeared around a corner. Laura decided to peek and almost gasped loudly at the sight. Carmilla had brought a pack of cat food for a pack of kittens that resided behind the school building. She smiled at the sight of the other girl smiling at the kittens. The meowing sounds were melodious. Laura could not help but feel glad, along with the cracking of a branch under her feet.

Carmilla looked in Laura’s direction but saw no one. She dusted her hands then walked towards that direction to check. Laura immediately hid behind nearby trees.

After making sure that the coast was clear, Carmilla went back to the kittens. “Whew. Good thing. If someone saw you guys here, they would’ve thrown you out… I need to find people who’d take you guys in soon.”

Laura immediately left the vicinity.

* * *

It had been almost five weeks of following-stalking-walking-in-the-same-direction and she still hadn’t talked to Carmilla about the interview. Perry, Danny, and LaF had all started to help her in this and for some odd reason they just couldn’t find the girl even with the schedule.

“I’m telling you, Laura. She’s like a cat, and she only shows herself to you,” LaFontaine sighed as they started typing on their laptop. “Maybe she likes you, who knows.”

Laura’s head shot up from her head desk. _“Does she know?”_ Then she sighed. _“But I haven’t told anyone.”_ She grumbled something inaudible. “Don’t know…”

The girl didn’t have a stellar first impression on her. The first met and all she did was bark snarky remarks at her, and that immediately put her on Laura’s list of “Do not be friends.” However, the past five weeks had been entirely different, and she realized that maybe she was too quick to judge the girl.

Carmilla had been nothing but kind, helpful, and thoughtful. Well, maybe she could be as snarky and broody as she could get. She didn’t have many friends. If you considered the family of five kittens she took care of, you’d think that was her family and friends, and she seemed content with that.

“But that looks lonely…”

“Laura?” Perry looked at her. She stared at Perry before realizing she had just spoken her thought out loud. She shook her head and smiled.

She rolled her head to the side and stared out the window of the library, her thoughts slowly creeping back to Carmilla. For the past few weeks, she couldn’t get her mind off her… She’d been wanting to see her again, talk to her, and hear her voice.

She suddenly sat up. _“Oh my god…”_ She put both of her hands onto her head, closing her eyes. _“Do I…???”_

She folded her arms on the desk, dropping her forehead onto them loudly. The three other people at the same table looked at her weirdly.

“She’s having an internal monologue, isn’t she?” LaFontaine said. The other two nodded and decided to leave her alone.

_“But after that… I don’t think she’d ever want to see me again…”_

* * *

 

It had been almost five weeks of following-stalking-walking-in-the-same-direction and she still hadn’t talked to Carmilla about the interview. Perry, Danny, and LaF had all started to help her in this and for some odd reason they just couldn’t find the girl even with the schedule.

“I’m telling you, Laura. She’s like a cat, and she only shows herself to you,” LaFontaine sighed as they started typing on their laptop. “Maybe she likes you, who knows.”

Laura’s head shot up from her head desk. _“Does she know?”_ Then she sighed. _“But I haven’t told anyone.”_ She grumbled something inaudible. “Don’t know…”

The girl didn’t have a stellar first impression on her. The first met and all she did was bark snarky remarks at her, and that immediately put her on Laura’s list of “Do not be friends.” However, the past five weeks had been entirely different, and she realized that maybe she was too quick to judge the girl.

Carmilla had been nothing but kind, helpful, and thoughtful. Well, maybe she could be as snarky and broody as she could get. She didn’t have many friends. If you considered the family of five kittens she took care of, you’d think that was her family and friends, and she seemed content with that.

“But that looks lonely…”

“Laura?” Perry looked at her. She stared at Perry before realizing she had just spoken her thought out loud. She shook her head and smiled.

She rolled her head to the side and stared out the window of the library, her thoughts slowly creeping back to Carmilla. For the past few weeks, she couldn’t get her mind off her… She’d been wanting to see her again, talk to her, and hear her voice.

She suddenly sat up. _“Oh my god…”_ She put both of her hands onto her head, closing her eyes. _“Do I…???”_

She folded her arms on the desk, dropping her forehead onto them loudly. The three other people at the same table looked at her weirdly.

“She’s having an internal monologue, isn’t she?” LaFontaine said. The other two nodded and decided to leave her alone.

_“But after that… I don’t think she’d ever want to see me again…”_

* * *

 

Laura stood under the maple tree nervously. All kinds of thoughts ran through her head as she tried to connect the dots with a lot of different rumors that surrounded this female who called her out.

“Is she going to beat me up for that one snarky comeback I made in class yesterday?” She turned to look at the tree as if talking to it. “Is she going to murder me? Oh my god.”

She looked up at the tree. The nervousness wouldn’t leave her hands, her feet, and her brain. They didn’t even know each other well. They just knew each other’s names and frequently they would clash in class but that was about it. She almost jumped upon hearing footsteps coming towards her.

Laura turned around to face her. _It’s her._ What did she expect?

“Go out with me.”

“… What!?”

Laura made all of these counters for whatever she could do to her. Kick her; she’d kick her back. If she brandished a knife to stab her, she’d run for her life. She knew how to avoid physical assault but a…

“Well…?” Carmilla looked at her as she scratched the back of her neck.

“I… don’t know.” Laura swallowed as she stared at her, trying to let her brain catch up with whatever was happening. “I… don’t really know you well. So I guess… I would have to say no. Well… we can be friends?” _Also you’re scary as hell, rude, snarky, and definitely so not fit for me._

Carmilla looked at the ground. “I… see.”

“Anyway, I have a project to do. I’ll see you around!” Then she ran away.

* * *

 _“That was the rudest thing you can do to a person. Lauraaaa, why are you like this!?”_ She banged her head on her arms. _“But when we saw each other when I unceremoniously ran into the wall, she was all chill, smiles, and snarky like before…”_

Then the thought hit her. _“What could she even possibly like about me anyway?”_ Sometimes she could see the black haired lady reading philosophy books in the library or absentmindedly staring outside the window. Sometimes she’d talk to the kittens about stars and constellations and then stare off to somewhere…

Laura wished that during all those times of silence, Carmilla was thinking of her.

The blonde slammed both of her hands on the table followed by her standing up. “Okay, I’ve got to set this straight.”

LaFontaine pointed at her. “But you’re not—“

“I’ll be back,” Laura said, determination in her eyes. “Be prepared, because I’ll bring the dean’s daughter too.” Then she walked away.

The three just shrugged. They were prepared anyway.

* * *

 

Laura skidded to a stop near the back of the school building. Just like she expected of Carmilla’s schedule, she was there.

The black haired female only looked at her then turned her attention back to the kittens. “Hey there, cupcake.”

The blonde inhaled, exhaled, then inhaled, and then exhaled. “I’ve got something to tell you.”

“The interview, right?” She scratched the chin of one of the kittens before dusting her hands and standing up. “I’m free right now.”

“No, it’s not the interview—“ Laura looked at her. “… Well, there’s that too, but that’s not what this is about right now.”

“Well, you knew to find me here, so I was guessing Mother probably told you.” Carmilla stared at her. Her eyes were piercing as if she was going to see through Laura, Laura’s thoughts, or whatever her heart was saying right now.

“Well, she did—But like I was saying, it’s not the interview right now!” Laura told her with weird hand gestures. Carmilla only raised an eyebrow. “It’s, um… about you and me, and, uh, the maple tree, weeks ago.”

A flash of what seemed to be embarrassment, regret, and sadness flashed through Carmilla’s face, and Laura immediately felt guilty.

“… What is it?” Carmilla’s voice was quiet.

“I, um…” Laura put an index finger on her temple as if trying to think of what to say. “I—First of all, I’m sorry for stalking you for weeks and all that.” Carmilla only stared at her. “You knew!”

“You were obvious.”

“Ugh.” She stomped her feet. “Anyway, that’s not it! I– I just realized that maybe you weren’t the person I thought you were. I listened to too many rumors going on about you, and that clouded my judgment of you, and that isn’t like me, and I’m so sorry that I believed them—“ Laura turned around and paced left and right. Carmilla was amused. “—and you probably hate me, and that’s okay because whatever I did was really hateable—“

“Well, cupcake—“

“Sshh! I’m not done yet!” Laura gave her a shh gesture. “I know that this is all going to be so, so weird, and that it’s going to also be so, so confusing, but I’m so confused myself too and I—“

Carmilla just looked at her frantically trying to find something to explain. She sensed the change of heart in her appearance. She was just like how Carmilla thought she would be. She had a strong sense of justice, and she would fight for whatever she thought was right. She was kind and forgiving and it was hard not to like a person like that.

* * *

 

_Carmilla walked outside the school grounds. She saw a bundle of blonde run to the middle of the road. She picked up what seemed to be a puppy that had been run over by a car. She brought it to the sidewalk and started to check it over for bruises._

_“Oh my god, oh my god. This is so not real. What a rude driver!” She ran her mouth as she took in the injured state of the dog. It may have had a few broken bones and it was bleeding, but it should pull through… if brought to a vet immediately._

_“The pup’s not gonna make it, sweetheart,” Carmilla commented after she looked at the situation. However, Laura only looked at her with determination even though tears threatened to fall from her eyes._

_“No. I’m going to save it. This puppy is going to survive this. He will grow up, become a big dog, and whoever is going to be its owner or its present owner is going to grow up with it together,” she said as she furiously texted on her phone. “Whoever that bastard is, this puppy didn’t deserve to get ran over.”_

_“Well, it was crossing the streets. It couldn’t escape in time,” Carmilla spoke._

_“You know,_ Ms. Karnstein _, I don’t care what kind of broody, snarky, sarcastic, whatever thing you’ve got to say. I’d say this puppy doesn’t deserve this kind of fate, and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t deserve to, ugh, die. This puppy deserves better.” She looked at the puppy again. “The world deserves better, this place deserves better, I deserve better, heck, even you deserve better.”_

_Carmilla sighed as she looked at her, and then she walked off. Laura looked at her, but she didn’t say one word. Normally people would say “You’re not gonna help!? That’s so rude!” But she didn’t. She wanted to do what she could and that’s what she was gonna do._

* * *

“—and you’re probably not going to say ‘sure, alright’ because I was so rude and—“ Laura stopped midway in her sentence upon watching the black haired female walk up to her. “—and that I may be, well, I may, well, like-like you the same way you do for me and I don’t even know if you still like me and—“

Then the kiss came.

“Does this answer your never ending question?” Carmilla told her, searching her eyes.

“Oh god, yes.” Laura stared into her eyes as well. “Yes…”

Carmilla smirked before kissing her again.

They stared at each other before Laura broke the solace of their silence. “So… um… you like cats?”

“And cupcakes.” Carmilla winked at her.

“Well… I make good cupcakes?”

Carmilla laughed. _“You are a better cupcake.”_

* * *

**EXTRA**

* * *

Carmilla walked away from Laura and the poor puppy. She brought out her phone and pressed a speed dial number. “Hey, Will?”

“Hey, Kitty. What’s up?”

“There’s a dog that got ran over here in front of the school. Do you think your vet friend can come here stat and look it over? Also, report it to the police.”

There were shuffling sounds on the other end of the line. “What’s going on?” Will asked. “You don’t do these kinds of things.”

“Well, I’m not sure myself,” Carmilla spoke. She looked at Laura one last time.

She really wasn’t the type of person to do these kinds of things.

“Maybe a change of heart.”

 


End file.
